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Blacknight boss calls for calm over .org sale to Ethos Capital

Neylon warns against "hyperbolic hysteria"
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Image: Stockfresh

29 January 2020

Founder and CEO of domain registrar and Web hosting company Blacknight, Michele Neylon, has pushed back against concerns over the sale of the Internet’s Society’s sale of the Public Interest Registry’s .org domain to Ethos Capital for $1.1 billion.

Announced last November, the sale was paused for 30 days last month to address concerns about the removal of price caps that could see the price of domains increase.

Neylon, who sits on the GNSO council of ICANN, wrote on a company blog: “While many of those who have voiced concerns do so in sincerity, there are also some whose interests in .org aren’t quite that kosher. It’s pretty clear that some people and organisations are using the current debacle to raise their own profiles. While that in itself might not be such a bad thing, the level of hyperbolic hysteria surrounding the current situation is unhelpful.”

Ethos Capital has not indicated if the sale will lead to dramatic prices rises for .org domain owners. Ethos has stated that they are committed to keeping .org accessible and reasonably priced for all, in line with PIR’s longstanding, purpose-driven mission.

“The entire Internet industry faces many more pressing issues currently, such as censorship, child abuse, privacy and misinformation, among other things,” wrote Neylon.

“The energy being poured into opposing this one deal, where the funds will actually endow a charity that works on these important issues, could be much better spent on tackling the big issues that matter in Internet governance.”

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